From white-slaving it is fascinating to turn to David Lowenthal’s account of the varied ways in which we respond to the past. This is very much a personal account, but the range is truly impressive and the understanding, indeed vision, at play in the presentation of past legacies makes for an enthralling read. The past as identity serves Lowenthal as a point of departure for his presentation of nostalgia and heritage as pervading culture, a theme ably brought out in the illustrations. There is room to discuss emphasis. For example, China, India and television are all covered, but there is room for much more on all three, and not least because of their significance for moulding and disseminating particular perceptions.
Lowenthal is clear in his views. He argues that to live again in the past lends fullness and duration to the present and that passionate pursuit of the past is less debilitating than to lack concern for the past altogether. I would have preferred a consideration at that point of some of the recent Islamic excesses. Lowenthal does, however, point out that reactions to the past can be innately contrarian, as avowals of admiration or disdain can conceal or provoke their opposites: reverence for tradition incites iconoclasm and nostalgic retrieval foments modernist clean sweeps. Struggles over legitimacy and legitimation are clearly involved, and this very factor will ensure that the past will scarcely be “owned” by or for any one interpretation, let alone by academics.
Indeed, a major strand in Lowenthal’s coverage is that of differing forms of ownership. This is done brilliantly and provides a coherence to what might otherwise appear a rich stew. He is certainly up-to-date. For example, the arresting discussion of collective responsibility for the past includes the contemporary Russian attitude to Stalin’s crimes. The “incipient flux of time” is a concluding theme, with the “ongoing past” absorbing our creative energy. The read is exhilarating, and there is no pretence to definitive status in this mature and most valuable work.
Lowenthal is clear in his views. He argues that to live again in the past lends fullness and duration to the present and that passionate pursuit of the past is less debilitating than to lack concern for the past altogether. I would have preferred a consideration at that point of some of the recent Islamic excesses. Lowenthal does, however, point out that reactions to the past can be innately contrarian, as avowals of admiration or disdain can conceal or provoke their opposites: reverence for tradition incites iconoclasm and nostalgic retrieval foments modernist clean sweeps. Struggles over legitimacy and legitimation are clearly involved, and this very factor will ensure that the past will scarcely be “owned” by or for any one interpretation, let alone by academics.
Indeed, a major strand in Lowenthal’s coverage is that of differing forms of ownership. This is done brilliantly and provides a coherence to what might otherwise appear a rich stew. He is certainly up-to-date. For example, the arresting discussion of collective responsibility for the past includes the contemporary Russian attitude to Stalin’s crimes. The “incipient flux of time” is a concluding theme, with the “ongoing past” absorbing our creative energy. The read is exhilarating, and there is no pretence to definitive status in this mature and most valuable work.
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